


You are my sunshine

by RedRose101



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prompto Argentum Needs a Hug, Slow Build, Stalking, Suspense, and not from THAT person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:08:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27311659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedRose101/pseuds/RedRose101
Summary: Of all the things Prompto expected to find when he retired to the locker room, a handwritten note professing the writer's love was not one of them. It had to be a joke, right? A prank by the more senior recruits in an attempt to get under his skin. Besides, who on Eos would want to write him a romantic poem? It was ridiculous - no, down right absurd that any of his peers would find him attractive enough to the point they got sappy about it. It had to be a prank, right?Right?(Tags/Rating to change as story progress)(On temporary hiatus due to depression)
Relationships: One-sided Prompto Argentum/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 9





	You are my sunshine

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story idea I've had in my head for quite a long time, and as such am excited to be finally writing it down. As a fair warning this is not going to be the, well, happiest of stories, but truthfully that's to be expected as I can't seem to write anything except whump ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. 
> 
> Also, the tags WILL be updating as the story progress. I've kept them light at the moment so to avoid spoilers, but when it comes to adding new tags i will also include them in the authors note's just to make sure they are seen. Just feels like the best way to go about it.
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy ❤️😊❤️

_Your smile is radiant_

_A sunflower in bloom_

_Every second I’m near you_

_Makes my heart swoon_

_I long for your attention_

_Your delightful gaze upon my own_

_Oh how I wish you would notice me_

_As I long for you all alone_

Well, that was interesting.

Of all the things Prompto expected to find when he retired to the locker room, a handwritten note professing the writer's love was not one of them. The thoughtful words were pinned to the outside of his rusted locker, written on a stationary themed to spring. To enhance the poem a lone sunflower had been stuck alongside it, the strangely compelling attempt at charm dulled slightly by the petals beginning to wilt and falter under the harsh glare of fluorescent lighting.

Prompto read the note over and over again in his head, utterly baffled as to how it ended up there in the first place. It had to be a joke, right? A prank by the more senior recruits in an attempt to get under his skin. He was one of the newbies after all, his Crownsguard training only totalling a minimum of six weeks in comparison to their...more than six weeks. He’d seen the high-school drama’s, how the Jocks would pick on the Nerds in an attempt to justify their own masculinity. Not that he was a nerd, thank you very much, he just had more hobbies in life than drinking his body weight in cheap beer and trying to fuck anything on two legs. Besides, who on Eos would want to write him a romantic poem? It was ridiculous - no, down right absurd that any of his peers would find him attractive enough to the point they got sappy about it. It had to be a prank, right?

Right?

“What you got there, Argentum?”

“Wha-,” Prompto startles, so caught up in his speculations that he had completely disregarded the fact that he was not alone in the locker room. Looking around he notices several eyes on him - or more specifically, on the gaudy note that continues to elude him. He turns to face the speaker , an embarrassed blush slowly tinting his face as he catches her intently reading the aforementioned note.

“Holy. Fucking. **Shit** , you have a secret admirer!” The brunette's face splits into a wide grin, eye’s alight with a joy that makes Prompto suddenly feel mass concern. “Hey Jaune,” she calls over her shoulder, “you have got to see this!”

“Come on Nico, I was just about to head out!” Jaune, for his part, does not share a hint of their friend’s interest. The exhaustion from the day’s training highlights his young features, teal eyes bloodshot as he looks around five-seconds away from becoming well-acquainted with the grimy linoleum. Today’s training had been non-stop, a two for one of both an obstacle course and practicing shooting while on the move. 

Cor claimed it to be a necessary part of the program; Prompto thought he was just a sadist. 

His legs felt like they had wandered off to Altissa, while his arms held a constant tremble that was honestly starting to become concerning. Dreams of a relaxing bubble-filled bath were unfortunately just that, resigning himself to the fact he was about to play keep-away with the resident gossip.

“Ummmm excuse me, my weird poem, not yours!” his attempts at grabbing it back were for nought though, Nico dodging gracefully under his arm with nothing more than a small giggle at his expense. She then proceeds to hop onto the nearest bench, note outstretched high above her and safe from Prompto’s plight. With one final smug glance and a wink, she begins reading out the note for the whole district to hear.

“ _Your smile is radiant, a sunflower in bloom_ ” she croons “ _Every second I’m near you, I feel my heart swoon_.”

“Nico, I mean it, gimme!” when he jumps his fingers barely brush the stationery, his only reward being a flash of pink tongue from Nico and further agony on his abused kneecaps. He doesn’t need a mirror to know his cheeks are flushed dangerously crimson, his embarrassment evident and made even worse by the muffled laughter and whispers bouncing clear as day off the tiles of the showers. Ignis always said he had an uncanny ability to boost the morale of a room just by his mere presence, a feat he’d feel proud of if it wasn’t currently at his own expense.

Prompto feels like he’s back in middle school all over again.

“Holy shit, this is gold! How in the fuck does someone even write something this corny - AH, JAUNE!” her further taunts are caught to a literal screeching halt when Jaune effortlessly lifts the girl into his arms. Mindful of her flailing he gently plucks the note from her scraped hands, providing Prompto with a tired smile as he toss's the note back his way.

“Despite what her size may suggest, I hate to say that Nico unfortunately still maintains the mindset of a 13 year-old schoolgirl.” 

“Awww come on Jauny, like you weren’t any different at that age- urk!” her argument is cut off with a painful sounding **thud** as she is dropped gracelessly from Jaune’s arms. He barely give the grimacing menace a second look before stepping over her defeated form, choosing instead to saddle over to Prompto and focus on the now-crumpled note in his hand.

_“What the fuck is happening,”_ Prompto thinks slack-jawed, confused as to as to how unconventional his evening had become. All he wanted was to enjoy a bath with Mr. Squidgy™️….

Seemingly not a mind-reader, Jaune continued to analyse the note in Prompto’s hands, a small smirk lifting at the corner of his lips as he reaches the final line.

“Well I won’t lie, that's not the best declaration of love I’ve ever read, but it certainly has its charm.”

“Declaration of lo - wait, you think it’s real!” his voice rises to an octave it hasn’t reached since his pre-puberty days, not that he pays it much thought mind you because **WHAT**.

“Course it’s real numb-nuts,” Nico pipes up cheerfully from the floor. “Do you know the effort you would have to go through to get a live sunflower this time of year?”

“.....No?”

“More effort than would be worth for a simple prank,” Jaune helpfully adds, extending a hand to Nico in a grapevine of peace.

“But….why?” 

“Shiva’s tits Argentum, have a bit of confidence in yourself! Sure, you’re far from my own type, but even I can see the charm in your freckled ass,” That’s probably supposed to be a complement, but as Nico is the one stating it he’s honestly not sure. Jaune seems to agree, and judging from the glare is already regretting helping her back off the floor.

“That’s not _quite_ how I would put it myself, but you’re technically not wrong either.” He looks pensive for a few seconds, “I wonder if Marcus knows anything? He always tends to be up to date with the going-ons of the recruits.”

“Meh, maybe,” Nico responds, finally disinterested. She then moves to look at her watch, breathing sharply through her teeth when she catches sight of the time.

“Well,” she says, returning to look at Prompto, “This has been nice and all, buuuut Jauny and I have a bus we need to catch, like, 10 minutes ago.”

“Oh, so NOW you care about being punctual.”

“Hey, you know I’m not one to miss out on free entertainment,” she thumps Prompto hard on the back, uncaring of her own strength, and flashes him a beaming smile, “see ya Monday, freckles!” And with that she prances out the room, shouldering past a few of the stragglers still loitering at the end of the day. Out of a loyalty he has yet to understand Jaune moves to follow, pausing only briefly to offer a wave and a sincere “Good Night.” Prompto waves back half-heartedly, mind miles away as he tries desperately to figure out the events of the past five minutes.

_What the_ **_fuck_ ** _just happened!?_

**********

“Prompto has a secret admirer? Bullshit.”

“Hey!”

It was the day following the discovery of the ‘the note’, a blissful Saturday with no expectations in sight besides binging out on his besties’ sofa alongside the latest Assassin's Creed. The ever-present Shield and Retainer were also, well, _present_ , their only expectation of being to keep their shared charge from setting the kitchen on fire for the *cough* time.

Ignis was currently ‘guarding’ said kitchen, flicking elegantly through a dog-eared recipe book and seemingly in his own world, oblivious to the sound of Prompto yelling whenever Noctis got too close to a target. This in turn was interrupted by Gladio’s lazy snickers, standing alongside Iggy and brazenly reading over his shoulder.

Despite their distance Prompto felt his anxiety flutter just from being in the mere presence of them, two years doing little to quell the feeling in his heart that they tolerated him at best. Logically he knew that wasn’t really the case, if it were then there was no way in _hell_ he would be allowed to be in such close vicinity to the Prince, let alone his current position of being practically in his lap. 

It was just a hard feeling to shake off, you know? If anything Prompto would say that they liked him enough in small doses _just as everyone else_ but doubted they would care much if he ever vanished off the face of the earth. Ignis probably wouldn’t even notice until he realised Noctis wasn’t actually the one eating his carrot sticks at lunchtime……

It was also because of these reasons that Prompto wasn’t expecting the two of them to take notice when he was animatedly retelling the events of the previous day to Noct, mere seconds away from showing him the poem when Gladio decided to interrupt with scorn.

“Now now Gladio,” Ignis chimes in, “If Prompto wants to believe it’s from an admirer, then I say let him.”

“ _Thank you_ …..wait, hang on!”

“What’s it say anyway?” Gladio asks, striding over and snatching the poem from his hands. Annoyingly, he barely makes it to the end before he collapses into laughter.

“Who the fuck even writes like that!? Astrals, the shit I read is more romantic than this. It’s like the word ‘subtle’ isn't even in their dictionary.” 

Yeah, Prompto may not _blame_ the guy for laughing, but he could at least try and be polite about it.

“Come _on_ dude, a little sympathy would be nice.”

“How do you even know it's for you,” Noctis questions, barely giving the poem a glance before returning his attention to the screen,“like, it’s a rather generic poem, could be in reference to anyone honestly.”

“What about Claudia?” Gladio questions, “hell, she makes anyone cower in her presence, wouldn’t be surprised if this was from some newbie to afraid to speak to her directly.”

“Or perhaps Tatiana,” Ignis responds in turn, “I’ve seen her in the Citadel library several times browsing the Accordion poetry section, so perhaps it’s someone after their affections?

“I...seriously?” Prompto feels his confidence deflate more and more with each passing comment. He readily accepted the fact that he was hardly the most attractive guy on Eos, but was it honestly that hard to imagine someone may actually like him? Looking back, perhaps Nico and Jaune were just being kind to him yesterday in regards to his appearance, too polite to say anything hurtful to an almost stranger. 

Or maybe his first instinct was correct, and it _was_ all just a prank set up to humiliate him - hell, the two were probably even in on it. It wasn’t even until late last night he even began to indulge in the mindset that someone may have feelings for him, and positive ones at that.

It was, well, _nice_.

Ignis, observant as ever, quickly picks up on the fact that Prompto has fallen quiet during the course of the conversation (“ _Could be for Marcus, he’s hot as fuck._ ” “ _Yeah, if you like boy scouts maybe._ ”) sighing deeply before addressing the room.

“Alright, that’s quite enough. There’s a fine line between a simple jest and actually hurting someone’s feelings.”

“It’s fine, It’s fine!” Prompto squeaks out, “I mean, you’re not wrong, you'd have to be blind to purposely send ME a love poem,” he laughs nervously, ducking his head to avoid their stares. Distantly, he acknowledges Noctis tensing slightly besides him, a small sigh escaping the prince’s lips before the melodic sound of the pause screen from the long-forgetting game becomes the sole sound of the room. 

_Great,_ Prompto thinks, _I’ve gone and made things awkward for everyone…._

Prompto feels rather than see’s Gladio moving towards him, the calloused hand that lands on his shoulder offering a small squeeze before the man speaks to him directly, “Oh come on Blondie, you know that’s not what we meant. I was surprised that’s all, who the fuck writes love confessions in this day and age?”

“Yeah Prom, we didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything,” Noctis raises his hands when Prompto goes to interrupt, a silent request to hear him out, “It’s not that someone would find you attractive that’s funny, it's just the situation in general. Gladio’s right, no one born in this century confesses through bloody poems - unless, of course, Ignis is hiding something from us….”

“I assure you even I have better taste than _that,_ ” Ignis shoots a small glare in the vicinity of the note, “I’ve always found being direct to be the best course of action when it comes to courting.”

Noctis offers Prompto a smug look, “I rest my case.”

“By chance,” Ignis purposely ignores his charge, “Did they happen to leave anything else alongside the poem?”

“Oh shoot, yeah they did. Hang on, just let me grab-” 

He fumbles around momentarily trying to pull his phone out his bag, gnawing worriedly on his lip until he finally locates the accompanying chocobo keyring that allows him to yank the phone free from its binds. Opening his gallery he angles the phone to show the group, stifling laughter as the three move in near perfect unison to catch a peak. The shot was taken in the early hours of the morning, the soft hues of dawn providing a fantastic backdrop behind the flower now perched on his window ledge.

“What a lovely Composition.”

“Thanks, Iggy!”

“A sunflower….that’s certainly an interesting choice.”

“Wait, in what way?”

“Well,” Gladio shrugs, “usually when a person goes about professing their love to another they use Roses or Carnations. Sunflowers don’t tend to be someone’s first pick, especially when they’re a pain in the ass to get out of season.”

“Yeah, Jaune mentioned that yesterday.”

“Jaune?”

“Guy I met yesterday. He seemed pretty knowledgeable in it all, thinking back to it.”

“Perhaps they are the mysterious sender?” Ignis questions.

“Nah,” Prompto wrinkles his nose, “He seemed just as surprised as me to be honest.”

“Are they nice, this ‘Jaune’?” Noctis suddenly asks, a surprise as Prompto honestly thought his friend would have tuned out by now. Feelings never were quite were his forte, bless him.

“Uh...yes? Why dude, ya worried about me or something?”

“N-no, just curious, that's all.” He turns his face back towards the screen, and Prompto _swears_ he saw a smirk rise at the corner of Iggys lip.

_That’s odd - wait, is Noct's face turning red?_

Before he can ask his friend if he’s feeling ok he’s interrupted by a triumphant “A-ha!” From Gladio, the shield having apparently spent the last conversation researching something on his phone.

“Thought I had it right,” Gladio clears his throat.

“ _Known as being ‘happy’ flowers, Sunflowers contain the symbolism of adoration, loyalty, and longevity. Sunflowers are used when the giver wishes for the receiver to know that his/her mere presence makes their life more joyful._ ”

**Beat**

“Perhaps I’m incorrect, but I’m beginning to suspect that Prompto may, in fact, have a secret admirer.” Ignis is the one to break the tension, chin resting in his gloved hand and thoughts almost visible to the eye, “I'll take back what I said about the sender being indirect.”

“But the symbolism...that almost describes Prompto’s personality to a T.”

“Almost?”

“Well longevity is clearly incorrect, Prom’s shorter than me!”

“.....Highness please.”

“That’s a new kind of stupid, even from you Noct. Hey Blondie, what do you think of this?”

Everyone turns to look at Prompto.

“.......I just like the sunflower, dudes, that’s all.”

**********

_After seeing Nico and Jaune off, Prompto turns around to collect his belongings, his dreams of a long soak finally becoming closer to reality. His movements halt, however, when he catches sight a brief hint of yellow from the corner of his vision. The sunflower is still attached to his locker, a warm beacon of light that deserved far better than to be trapped upon its lonesome for the rest of eternity. He finally removes it, saddened when a couple of the wilted petals flutter elegantly to the floor. He’ll have to place it straight in water once he returns home if he wants any hope of saving it. Insomnia was still in the mists of winter, completely the wrong time for such a beauty to be held in his hands. Whoever placed the flower must have really gone out of their way to track way one down for him……_

_Prompto shakes his head, getting rid of any potential visions of a secret admirer. Give it a week and someone will come forward to lay claim to the ‘prank’, and Prompto was not about to give them the satisfaction of having fooled him into believing the poem's claims. Despite what people may say about him he wasn’t an idiot, and he’d been told enough lies and false promises in his short life to where he can easily tell when something is too good to be true. Still, the sunflower is a rather pleasant surprise, and would look perfect on his windowsill next to his Chocobo figurines. Prompto sees no harm in at least taking small joy from that._

_Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?_

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> What indeed Prompto, what indeed....
> 
> Hope you don't mind the exposition is this chapter, 'subtle' isn't exactly my middle name plus i've never written something like this before. It was alot of fun however, particularly when it came to the foreshadowing elements (Dun dun duuuun🤭).  
> Let me know if you picked up on anything 😉
> 
> Once again thank you for reading, and I hope you have a nice day! ❤️😊❤️


End file.
